


Lullabies

by carinascott



Category: Black Panther (2018), Black Panther (Comics), Captain America - All Media Types, Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - No Powers, Kid Fic, M/M, Parent T'Challa, Parent Tony Stark
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-19
Updated: 2017-01-19
Packaged: 2018-09-18 14:30:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,213
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9389264
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/carinascott/pseuds/carinascott
Summary: Heading down the hall toward Shuri’s bedroom, T’Challa was about to inquire to Tony’s AI JARVIS about Tony’s location when he heard the soft rumble of Tony’s voice. Getting closer to Shuri’s bedroom, he realized that it wasn’t talking but rather singing that he could hear.





	

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [IronPanther Collection.](https://archiveofourown.org/works/7145885) by [Oky_Verlo](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Oky_Verlo/pseuds/Oky_Verlo). 



> AN: So, I haven’t written anything in this fandom in years. Reading Post-CA:CW fic has sold me on this pairing, and reading Chapter 56 of [Oky_Verlo](http://archiveofourown.org/users/Oky_Verlo/pseuds/Oky_Verlo)’s [IronPanther Collection](http://archiveofourown.org/works/7145885/chapters/21252302) is what actually inspired this little bunny. 
> 
> This fic is really short, but all you have to know is that this is a non-powered AU. Tony is still brilliant as ever (though that is mostly only showcased through the presence of JARVIS, who also only gets a brief mention). T’Challa is not the king of Wakanda (just a business man, though extremely successful in his own right and owns several companies in Wakanda), though that still remains his heritage even though he currently resides in the US with Tony (if I ever expand on this fic/verse I would explore them living part time in both the US and Wakanda. But that’s a big if.) Tony and T’Challa are married in this fic. Shuri is still T’Challa’s sister, but in this fic she’s a toddler and being raised by T’Challa and Tony after the death of their parents.
> 
> I think that’s about all you need to know to understand this fic. Enjoy.

** Lullabies **

T’Challa woke slowly, rubbing at his eyes as he sat up on the couch. He’d apparently fallen asleep on the couch during the movie he and Tony had put on after putting Shuri down for the night. He pushed the throw blanket off of his lap, folding it quickly and draping it back over the back of the couch before he stood and went in search of his husband.

Since Shuri had joined them six months ago, Tony tried to keep more regular sleeping hours so that he could help T’Challa care for the toddler. But sometimes bouts of insomnia would crop up and Tony would try to work through it by tinkering in his workshop.

Figuring that’s where his husband was, T’Challa decided to look in on Shuri briefly, before heading down to join Tony. Luckily his schedule was mostly clear for the next few days so he could handle the interruption to his sleep schedule by hanging out with his husband in the workshop for a few hours. 

Tony had confided in T’Challa about his insomnia not long after they became exclusive, so T’Challa knew that sometimes he needed a sounding board to help him through the excess information in his head if he was ever going to get any sleep. T’Challa would occasionally sit with Tony for a few hours in his workshop and bounce ideas or just listen, helping Tony purge the excess information from his system. Realizing that sometimes that ‘excess information’ was simply a plethora of dirty jokes from his driver Happy had been hilarious for T’Challa.

Heading down the hall toward Shuri’s bedroom, T’Challa was about to inquire to Tony’s AI JARVIS about Tony’s location when he heard the soft rumble of Tony’s voice. Getting closer to Shuri’s bedroom, he realized that it wasn’t talking but rather singing that he could hear.

Pushing the door open slowly, so as not to make any noise, T’Challa spied Tony sitting in the rocking chair in the corner of Shuri’s room. Shuri was in Tony’s lap, her two-year old body draped across him, fast asleep as Tony rocked and sang softly to her.

As he listened, T’Challa recognized the song as one his own mother had sung to him as a child. It was a song that T’Challa often sang to Shuri himself. Tony stumbled with the pronunciation of some of the words, but T’Challa was still amazed that he knew them at all. He leaned against the door frame and continued to listen; smiling as the soft strands of the Wakandan song ended and Tony transitioned into an American lullaby T’Challa had heard a time or two.

He felt his heart swell with pride and not for the first time he realized just how lucky he was to have Tony in his life. When T’Challa’s father had passed away six months earlier, T’Challa had been understandably devastated. The situation was made even more tragic by the fact that he’d lost his mother barely 18 months before that. And on top of that he was left to care for his young sister.

Shuri hadn’t even been two years old when their mother had died from her battle against pancreatic cancer. T’Challa had been saddened by his mother’s loss but could honestly say that he was happy her suffering had ended. Losing his father so soon after his mother’s death had been another devastating blow, but not a surprising one. Until then, T’Challa had never really bought into the idea of someone grieving to death, but he’d bared witness to it with his father. In those final months, the only bright light in his father’s life had been T’Challa and Shuri, and of course Tony because T’Chaka had adored him; but even his obvious love for them hadn’t been enough to sustain him in the long run.

Dealing with his parents’ loss was the most difficult thing he’d ever had to do, and he’d mourned the fact that Shuri would never know them. He’d also worried that Tony would leave him, unable or unwilling to be a parent to Shuri, since there was no way T’Challa was letting her go into some kind of foster care system. They had talked about having children, of course they had, but they’d both been in agreement that it wasn’t for them and they were perfectly fine with being the cool Uncles to any children Shuri might have in the future. But then two year old Shuri was sitting in their living room, strapped in her car seat, diaper bags and other baby stuff haphazardly strewn about, and T’Challa just knew his marriage of less than a year was fast coming to an end.

But Tony. Precious, sweet, selfless Tony, who had enough Daddy issues to fill a football stadium, had grabbed the reins of the situation like it was something he faced every day. He’d hired an interim nanny for the first month, just to show them the ropes of baby wrangling, and had dived into the parent thing head first. With Tony’s help T’Challa was able to actually grieve instead of drowning in it, Shuri blossomed in her new surroundings, and both T’Challa and Tony found their footing as parents to a precocious toddler that had them wrapped around her finger.

It still struck him at random times how much the last few years had both taken and _given_ him, and he still had moments where he struggled with the reality of it all. But Tony was always there with words of encouragement, a listening ear, or (his favorite) strong, sheltering arms to keep T’Challa together when he couldn’t manage it himself.

“Hey you.”

T’Challa blinked, his thoughts having drifted while Tony sang his sister back to sleep.

“Hey. Is she asleep?”

“Yeah. And heavy. Think my arm’s asleep.” Tony grinned a bit as he attempted to shift Shuri.

T’Challa chuckled softly, walking over to them and lifting his sister. He carried her over to her small bed, pulling the blankets back and tucking her in. He ran his hands over her back softly, soothing her back to sleep, before straightening and turning back to his husband, who was now standing and stretching the kinks out of his back.

T’Challa walked over and wrapped his arms around Tony, pulling him close. “I love you, did you know that?”

Tony’s arms tightened in response, his smile soft. “You might’ve mentioned it a time or two.”

“It’s true. You’re a great dad, Tony. A great man. I’m lucky to have you.”

“You say that now. But then I’ll forget to change the toilet paper roll and-”

T’Challa stopped the deflection with a gentle hand on Tony’s chin, tilting his face up until Tony was looking him in the eye. “Don’t sell yourself short, my beloved. You are a great man, quirks and all. And I’m grateful for you every day. Don’t ever doubt that, okay?”

The blush was adorable. “Okay.”

T’Challa brushed a sweet, chaste kiss against his husband’s lips. “Come on, let’s go to bed.”

Tony allowed T’Challa to lead him out of the room by their joined hands. “But I’m not sleepy.”

T’Challa turned to his husband, the heat in his gaze like an inferno. “Didn’t say anything about sleeping.”

**END**

**Author's Note:**

> So, I hope you enjoyed that. I had fun writing it and thanks for reading. ; )


End file.
